Zone 6a SFG

Anyone else in zone 6a?

Hi Lisa No, but I'm not far off... I'm in a 5b zone here in Colorado Springs. You'll be a bit warmer than me, with a longer season.

I'm a newbie - both to gardening and to SFG. I don't know how much help I can be to you, but I'm darned good at research when need be.

Yeah, I have been researching the heck out of some things. I love the internet. So far, I have my boxes built but I need to either dig up the grass, or put down cardboard, or both. I have started some seeds inside, but as soon as I get my boxes ready, I am going to plant my lettuce, spinach, carrots, onions, garlic, and broccoli.

I'm building my boxes next weekend and should be able to afford to fill them properly during the following week. I'll be using the landscape cloth at the bottom of my boxes - only because the previous owner of my house left a roll of the stuff in the garage. If I didn't have it, I'd probably use brown cardboard boxes, since that should be biodegradable. (maybe I should use that anyway... better for the environment? I had dug up an area about 10' x 12' last year, so I don't have to decide about digging up grass. I'll be putting in a few boxes.... still working out my design. I may go with three 4x4 boxes or with two 3x8's .... I'm going with a 6" depth, so one "recipe" of Mel's Mix should fill up either layout.

Hi Lisa! I'm just down the road from you in Mariemont. We have a community garden and I put 1 4x4 box down there last weekend. I planted lettuce from AJ Rahn's, spinach, peas, and onion sets on Wednesday. I went back down Thursday evening and Friday morning to water. Then this morning I finally saw someone else down there. They looked as if they were working way too hard! =) Where are you finding your supplies and seeds?

nancy

Hello fellow Greater Cincinnatian! I bought most of my seeds from Lowe's and Walmart, 2nd year asparagus crowns from Walmart (after looking everywhere online for them!), some strawberry plants from Walmart so I could have some June bearers, a strawberry pyramid that included 50 everbearing strawberry plants from gurneys.com, onion sets from walmart, garlic bulbs and broccoli plants from Berns in Middletown (went there to find vermiculite), and I have someone sending me seeds for a stevia plant that I talked to on craigslist. I also bought my plastic beds from lowes for $40 for a 4x4

I love Bern's - I haven't been up that way in years. Everything I have so far is from AJ Rahn's and WalMart. I'm hoping to find a bit more at the Newtown Farm Market or I've also heard Milford has some good garden centers. So far the lettuces look happy. I'm hoping the peas wait to sprout until I can get a support up for them.

Happy Monday!
n.

I know Burger Farms in Newtown always has a bunch of things, plus they have an ice cream stand and playground!

I might need a trip to Berger this weekend. I'm looking for broccoli plants (not seeds) and I still need something for 2 boxes. I had planned kale, but might switch to leaf lettuce. Too many decisions. I only have 1 4x4 box and still manage to feel overwhelmed. Oy!

They didn't have too many plants out yet, but the broccoli plants from there are a nice size, and they had some nice size mixed lettuce.

I guess I overlooked this post since I'm on the border in Centerville. I considered myself 5b instead of 6a to be on the safe side.

My garden "to do" list for the weekend:

-dig up grass in area where raised beds will go (probably overkill, but I want to dig down 2" since my beds are only 6" tall)
-lay down fabric cloth under beds
-mix Mel's Mix and put in all beds
-prepare trash can and buckets (drill holes in them) for potatoes and strawberries
-start seeds for broccoli, brussel sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, eggplant, and lettuce
-plant onions, peas and spinich directly into garden

lisaphoto wrote:I know Burger Farms in Newtown always has a bunch of things, plus they have an ice cream stand and playground!

We got our Asparagus crown from Burger Farms. Our seeds and transplants come from Seed Savers Exchange catalog. We love it and have been ordering from it for a few years. Barring horrible weather (last summer???), the tomatoes have been fantastic. Green beans and lettuce did well last year.

Volunteer lettuce that I let go to seed last year is peaking up and a few kale plants even seem to have survived the winter...talk about rock star over-wintering (with no help from me, thank you very much).

Looking forward to getting our peas, carrots, turnips and spinach in the ground once it dries out a bit more.

Living large in our back yard in Madisonville.

We bought most of our seeds at Seed Saver Exchange as well. I had read online that starting with good seeds was one of the most important steps, and their site was listed in several areas as the best, so I figured why not. They were quite pricey though!

For anything else I couldn't find on their site, such as romaine lettuce, I bought from Walmart. I'd heard Burpee seeds were still pretty good, and they had organic varieties, so I picked up a few there as well.

Oh my goodness! Look how many 6a-ers we have here. Welcome everyone to the forums. I hope you are finding your Zone-mates helpful. Sounds like there's a lot going on. You are all ahead of me, a 5b-er. We had snow on Thursday! Isn't that awful. Probably will still get more but probably no more hard freezes.

I'll be checking in on this thread just to see what I can look forward to, kind of like watching the future .

On Saturday, I put together my first box, a 4x12. YAY, I'm so excited! It rained Sunday and Monday, so today was my first day being able to get outside and work. I installed my grid, I made it out of pink poly-twine strung between the stakes that hold down the bed, and also some bamboo skewers. I was able to plant my broccoli transplants, sweet onion sets, spinach transplants and seeds, romaine transplants and seeds, iceberg lettuce seeds, garlic, and I have a separate in-ground patch that I threw some 2-year crowns of asparagus. I am waiting on some seeds from a seed exchange where I should be getting some sugar snap peas that need to go out soon. I still need to set up my strawberry bed, which is going to be a pain in the butt. I think I may be getting in over my head a bit this year. Not only do I have this bed, the strawberry pyramid, the asparagus bed, I also am planting a bunch of herbs in containers, perennial flower bulbs, artichokes in containers, a potted blueberry bush, and here's the kicker-a lemon, a lime, and an orange tree which are all kept in containers b/c they need to be brought in during cold temps. Yup, I'm crazy!

Here is my bed before planting anything.

Whoa Lisa! You are going to eat well this summer!

Many happy sunshines to you . You will have no come harvest time. Can't wait to see more pictures.

Fellow Cincinnatians - I just got off the phone with Berger Farm in Newtown. She has medium-grade vermiculite for $19 per 4cf bale. She said it is next to impossible to find coarse. She was perhaps the 10th place I've called on the east side, so I completely believe her! So we'll be making a trip to Newtown soon - I hear the ice cream stand calling my name!! Woo Hoo!

Happy Tuesday!

I am also a 6a'er. I am slightly to the east though in Providence RI. I may have jumped the gun a little bit but I have most of my first box planted (it's a 4x12'), and we have 3 more boxes to go 2 deep 4x4' (for root veggies) and one more 4x12' (for squash mostly) I am so excited to have some decent weather!!

Hi, also here in Cincinnati, and inspired by your ambition, Lisa! I'm curious about your barrels for strawberries, Castoral? I hope to get our grid down, and thinking about using wood dowels with string or twine (I like the bamboo skewer idea, too)...
Hopefully, we'll have some plants/seeds in by Saturday, so mom can sit back on Mother's Day.

I'm in 6A but a long way from most of you posting in this thread. I'm out here in the the sunny New Mexico Desert where our temp got down to 24 deg. F. last night and destroyed my covered tomato plants.

Ducky